Every Ounce
by the fourth
Summary: Henry, the Avatar, and a collection of writings. Or should I say CAWllection? Henry x F!Avatar
1. 01 Jesters

**Every Ounce**

A/N: Ha, what can I say. Henry easily became my favorite character and he is so much fun to write. I don't necessarily plan to have this play out in chronological order and may end up jumping around a bit. Have fun, because it was something trying to become a pungeon master in the past few days!

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Chapter 01. Jesters

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"Hey, wait! I want to join your CAWs- I mean, I can help you!"

A stifled laugh finally broke out.

Unfortunately for her, Kurisu was the only one laughing.

Chrom turned aside to his Tactician and she could tell his frustrated expression read as: Really, after that Risen joke?

Kurisu quieted herself as she sheepishly brushed her short blue hair behind her ear. The young man, who had earlier introduced himself as Henry, chuckled himself before continuing, "I know magic! What do you say... Birds of a feather and all that?"

As Chrom paused to think, it was then that he noticed Henry's attire. "Those robes..." he grumbled. "A Plegian dark mage? …Why would you help us?"

Henry's smile appeared to become devious. "Oh, don't let all the joking around fool ya—I've got kind of a thing for killing. Most funny people do, you know. The two things must be linked somehow. Ever talk to a jester when he's off duty? Those guys are some sick dastards!"

Neither Chrom nor Kurisu knew how much of this to take seriously anymore. Chrom frowned as he knew the Risen were steadily closing in. Regardless of how absurd he found Henry's greeting to be, he didn't want to refuse a potential ally. He turned to Kurisu for a second opinion and asked, "We're surrounded and we're idling our time. We're all about ready with the formations you strategized. Kurisu, what do you think?"

Only coming to his chest, she had to look up to catch his eye. "Right. The more help we receive, the better our chances," Kurisu answered confidently.

Chrom nodded to Henry as a sign of acceptance.

"Then, let's move out!"

While Chrom left to get into position farther up the field, Henry turned to Kurisu, patiently awaiting his orders.

"Kurisu, you're their tactician, huh? I hope I haven't caused too much of a CAWmotion! Nya ha ha!"

As if Kurisu had been anticipating the chance, she slyly responded, "No, definitely not a CAWlamity!" It was after they shared a laugh that she happened to notice that he was always smiling. Kurisu was perplexed by this oddity, but it was time they stopped lingering. She scanned their surroundings to quickly contemplate a new plan.

"All right, Henry, you can pair up with me. I'll need someone to aid my magic."

"Magic? You got it! It's always a blast throwing fire balls at the bad guys! It's especially a BLAST for them!"

He strayed near as she lead them towards the closest abandoned fort. The field remained clear and it allowed her some time to absorb the night so far. 'You are yourself, before you are any man's daughter. Remember that.' Regardless of Chrom's words, it still dwelled on her. Kurisu could not ignore the growing feeling that she was truly Validar's daughter. Before her uneasiness could cloud her mind, Henry shouted, "Risen with a death wish!~ Oh, but they're already dead and they want seconds!~"

The first Risen in their sights approached, wielding an axe. Regaining her focus, Kurisu reached into her coat where she kept both a Thunder tome and a Flux tome. She found the Flux most useful at Port Ferox and she did enjoy mastering as many skills as she could... She decided to take out the purple book.

"Ohhh, you know dark magic, too!"

Henry sounded more delighted than his usual tone.

Kurisu was slightly timid. "I did start to train in it..."

"Awesome!," he responded before laughing in glee.

Kurisu quickly skimmed the pages for the appropriate enchantment. She murmured the spell under her breath as the golden sigils formed around her. In an explosion of almost unnatural red flames, the Risen was struck in the chest, but remained standing.

"Hmm, dark magic is a bit tricky compared to Anima," mentioned Henry as he seemed to casually flip through the pages of his Ruin tome. "Just need to know the riiiight time to..."

He fired a spell of his own to the slowly approaching Risen.

"Pcheeeew!"

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"I admit that I'm a bit uneasy about having Henry among our ranks," said Chrom as he reviewed a parchment of notes that Kurisu had written.

Their review session had lasted longer than usual, especially factoring the wild reveal that "Marth" had been Chrom's own daughter, Lucina, from the future. However, the conversation had actually been relieving and high-spirited until that moment. Kurisu lit another candle and sat down at a desk to jot more possible strategizes in a log.

"It's not like you to be so untrusting," she replied, troubled about his suspicions.

"No, it's nothing like that. I have full faith that Henry will remain on our side through this conflict. I'm just uneasy because... no one should be that pleased by war."

Kurisu, who had spent the most time around Henry during that battle certainly could attest to his... fondness for blood. As bizarre as it was, she couldn't recall ever feeling threatened. He did help her improve her spell casting with the Flux tome. He did help her kill Risen. Okay, perhaps she should have been a bit worried after all...

"Besides, I'm surprised you weren't cringing at those jokes either!" he attempted to quickly follow, trying to alleviate the tension.

"It does an army no good if we're always so serious and downcast. Come on, Chrom," Kurisu replied, wisely deciding not to make a pun in jest there.

After scribbling for some time, Kurisu realized that she had shamefully tuned out Chrom for a moment. Regaining attention, she only caught the word "Plegia." As if she went against her own words, she became sullen remembering Validar's appearance. That was she was actually a Plegian. The mark on her hand was the same as the motif on Henry's cape. It was feeling of insecurity that occurred every now and then around the Shepherds - they had a long history, they had families. And now there was possibility that she was a part of this dubious royalty and a twin? She stopped her writings and looked up to the Exalt.

"Hey, Chrom, about Plegia..." she began. "You must have noticed the mark on my hand after you found me in that field. Did you... realize I was from there? Did you have your doubts?"

Chrom sighed. Kurisu felt like his response took much longer than it seemed. "It was a concern for a while, yes," he admitted. "But you quickly proved that you are both a trusted ally and a dear friend."

Despite Chrom's genuine support, she found herself still bothered. She was still a mystery, wasn't she?

"Thank you again, Chrom."

She returned his smile, but then decided to swiftly pick up her papers and books.

"It's getting rather late. Good night, we'll speak again in the morning."

Kurisu rushed back into her tent and prayed for no nightmares.


	2. 02 Arms

**Every Ounce**

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Chapter 02. Arms

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The expedition to Valm proved to be more taxing than expected and Kurisu found it fortunate that she was so mentally exhausted at night that she couldn't remember any dreams, whether good or bad. Despite the handful of Risen skirmishes, she managed to find some time at ease where she could research on Plegia from various books. When that proved inadequate, she approached Tharja, who replied she never paid much attention to whatever went on with the Grimleal. Kurisu was willing to listen to Tharja's upbringing, if not for the growing uncomfortable feeling of Tharja stepping into her personal space. She then went to Henry... only to back off when he showed her a disembodied Risen arm. Despite the grisly object, she knew that she had to turn around and ask.

"Oh, hello again, Kurisu!" greeted Henry, using the Risen arm to wave at her.

She winced and kept her distance.

"I really don't think you should have brought that back to camp..." she said, apprehensively.

"Aw, but you"-he gestured the arm towards her and she instinctively took a step back-"brought that horned beetle the other day!"

If Henry was any bit disappointed by that, he certainly didn't look and sound like it.

"It just happened to be on my coat... And well, I thought it was kind of cute." She started to giggle. "And I was thinking it would be pretty funny to put near Lissa's tent..." Kurisu let her voice face out. While it was nice her and Lissa decided to return to their silliness after their two year break, maybe it was getting a tiiiiny bit too childish...

"Chrom wasn't too happy when he found out you two were pranking each other, you know," Henry replied as he adjusted the Risen fingers to mimic his usual pose.

"He won't be too pleased if he finds out you have a Risen arm either."

"It's not even rotting or anything yet! 'Sides, I could tell him that it would make a good backscratcher!" He laughed and reached for his back with it to prove his case.

Kurisu was rendered unable to respond, so she finally mustered to discuss what she intended to talk about instead. "Henry, I actually wanted to ask you about Plegia..."

"You're silly. Aren't you from there, too?," he asked as he slightly tossed the arm up and down.

She recalled that Henry was still mostly a new recruit and perhaps word about her lack of origins hadn't reached him yet. She didn't mind telling him at that moment, but she figured it wouldn't matter with that Risen arm distracting him.

She sighed. "What's it like there though?"

"Sometimes it gets so hot that I hope everyone's blood will actually boil! It's pretty awesome!"

Not quite the answer Kurisu was expecting, but she was willing to take anything at this point.

"And you were in the Plegian army, right?"

"Yea, but none of the battles were as fun as the ones here though." He smiled deviously. "It was great you made all those ships go on fire and explode!"

"Heh, thank you." She was flushed and still fairly proud of how successful her absurd plan was. "Did you see how I jumped over a box and fired a Flux spell at that Valmese soldier near the end?!"

And perhaps still a little bit excited about her developing abilities in that battle.

As Henry chuckled at her spurt of enthusiasm, Kurisu realized this was probably not the most ideal time to ask further on Plegia and she herself was derailing the conversation. And she had to admit, after looking at that Risen arm for so long, somehow morbid curiosity crept in.

"Hey, Henry, if you do find any weaknesses from that Risen arm... Could you please tell me?"

He waved the Risen arm around. "Certainly! But if you want a first _hand_ experience, all you have to do is ask!~"

She laughed but responded, "No, thanks."

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A/N: Wow, I'm really surprised how much interest this fic generated! Thank you! Next chapter will be Henry-centric, so that should be amusing~


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